Friends
Despite various share price reactions to earnings released after the close yesterday and before the open this morning (some good, some bad), stocks in general were pretty quiet until word that troubled bank First Republic was exploring asset sales. Bond yields fell and the stocks followed. 77% of companies’ earnings numbers are beating analysts’ estimates so far but reactions to earnings releases, good or bad, are all over the place. Today we saw varied reactions to the likes of Verizon, UPS, McDonalds, and Pepsi. But in the end, we saw a pretty convincing down day for stocks- the type the bears have been waiting for.
As for the market averages, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 344 points to finish the day at 33,530. The S&P 500 was down 65 points to close at 4,071. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 238 points to close at 11,799. Gold was up $8 to trade at $2,008 per ounce, while oil was down $1.69 to trade at $77.07 per barrel WTI.
After the close we get a look at earnings of tech behemoths Google and Microsoft. These two are likely to cause some ripples as might earnings from Visa with regards to getting a read on the consumer. Did the bears get the crack in the market that they needed to get a convincing move down? These two big tech names could add to the crack or put some spackle on it after the close. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
